The Soviet school was considered one of the best in the world, and the genius Soviet prodigies - chess players, violinists, poets, artists and mathematicians - became sensations on an international scale.
Lev Landau
This famous physicist, student of Niels Bohr and Nobel laureate can rightfully be called the first Soviet prodigy. At the age of 13, he graduated from 10 classes, and at 14 he entered two faculties at once: chemistry and physics and mathematics (an unprecedented case at that time).
For special merits, Landau was transferred from Baku to Leningrad University, from which he graduated in 1927. Surprisingly, our hero did not squander his scientific potential in his mature years: he received 3 State Prizes of the USSR, the title of Hero of Socialist Labor and was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Denmark, the Netherlands and the USA.
Alexander Dvorak
Alexander Dvorak is an excellent student and a unique Soviet teenager who entered the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Kiev University at the age of 12. His "pronounced inclination towards natural sciences and extraordinary memory" was noted by all teachers from childhood: that is why the miracle child managed to go through 2 classes in one. By the way, the Dvorak family was generally distinguished by rare abilities: for example, Sasha's sister Tanya entered the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at the age of 13; the younger brother Volodya did not lag behind, being 3-4 years ahead of his peers. However, now the successes of talented children are forgotten and it is not known how their scientific career and personal destiny developed in the future.
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Ilya Frolov
Ilya Frolov is another young mathematical genius enrolled in Kuibyshev University at the age of 14. The fate of this hero is paradoxical: the son of humanities, he went to the most ordinary school, but quickly showed his extraordinary abilities, stepping from grade 8 at once to 10. Ilya is the only entrant of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics who passed all subjects with excellent marks and at the time of admission he already owned higher mathematics at the 1st year level. Tellingly, now nothing is known about the success of the ex-prodigy.
Konstantin Slavin
Konstantin Slavin is a talented Baku neurosurgeon, gold medalist, who became a student of the Azerbaijan State Medical Institute at the age of 12. Our hero went to school before his classmates (for this, in 1974, special permission from the Ministry of Education was required) and basically passed all exams as an external student, passing the program in an accelerated mode. Slavin graduated from the institute with honors, studied in Moscow, worked at the Botkin hospital and devoted his dissertation to laser surgery of peripheral nerves. After the collapse of the USSR, Konstantin moved to the United States at the invitation of the University of Illinois. In 2006, he became the head of the Russian American Medical Association and continues his career successfully to this day.
Sasha Putrya
Sasha Putrya is a young Poltava artist, whose name is often put on a par with Nika Turbina and Nadia Rusheva. They are brought together not only by their belonging to the Soviet era, but also by their creative energy and tragic fate. For 6 out of 11 years of her life, Sasha Putrya tried to overcome acute leukemia. Despite severe pain, she created 2,279 works, never parting with paints and felt-tip pens, which, however, is not surprising, because she is the daughter of an artist and musician. “When I grow up big, I will certainly become an artist and paint from morning to evening. Even at night,”said the girl at the age of 3. In addition to typical landscapes, still lifes and animalistic themes, Sasha Putrya was attracted by India. Her favorite actor was Mithun Chakraborty, whom the young artist dreamed of marrying. But in 1989, the life of our heroine ended tragically. Evil tongues prophesied imminent oblivion, but the work of Sasha Putrya is still being discussed: her personal exhibitions are still being held, and scientific articles are being created about creativity.
Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky is a Soviet and American chess player who became the USSR champion among youths at the age of 12 and the youngest grandmaster at the age of 16. The life of a simple Novokuznetsk boy developed rapidly: at 2 years old he mastered reading, at 4 - he learned to play the piano, significantly ahead of his peers in development (and all thanks to his father, who carefully thought out the daily routine and the diet of his beloved child). Since 1989, Gata has lived in the United States; in 1996 he lost to the famous Anatoly Karpov, and after an offensive defeat did not take chess in his hands for 10 years, during which he managed to get a prestigious law degree and open his own company. Now Kamsky lives with his family in Long Island.
Savely Kosenko
Savely Kosenko is the son of a mathematician and physics teacher, an 11-year-old freshman at a Moscow technical university, who got into the Guinness Book of Records. At 2 he learned to read, at 7 he wrote the first programs on a computer, and at 10 he wrote a textbook. This name was heard even at the height of perestroika, but in 1996, after the end of Baumanka, the figure of Savely disappeared from the field of view of journalists. Now Kosenko lives in Canada, owns several Internet marketing companies, and at the same time is very skeptical of those who inflate the merits of children-geniuses. Savely speaks openly about the difficulties faced by young talents: bullying of classmates and teachers, lack of friends and childhood as such - these are at least some of the unpleasant features of early fame.